Sheffield Wednesday is currently entertaining offers from three different parties, with hopes that a new owner will take over at Hillsborough by early next year.

According to Daily Mail Sport, a US consortium—formed by merging two previously competing groups headed by billionaire John McEvoy and the Storch family, who once pursued Plymouth—is in the mix. Additionally, former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley and a faction including James Bord, co-owner of Dunfermline Athletic, are also contenders.

Interestingly, Bord plays a significant role with Sheffield Wednesday’s fierce rivals, Sheffield United, where his analytical insights contribute to their recruitment strategy at Bramall Lane.

The administrators, Begbies Traynor, aim to maximize creditor repayments but must also ensure that the chosen bidder meets the criteria of the EFL’s Owners and Directors Test, a requirement that might not align with financial interests.

Meanwhile, spare a thought for Shrewsbury Town. The League Two side, like many others in the lower leagues, struggles with financial constraints. In 2020, they seemed poised for a financial windfall after drawing Liverpool at home in the FA Cup, managing a draw against the Premier League heavyweights.

However, burdened by a congested schedule, Liverpool opted to field their youngest-ever lineup for the Anfield replay, led by then Under-23 coach Neil Critchley. They also reduced ticket prices, a decision that Shrewsbury’s chairman, Roland Wycherley, estimated cost his club up to £500,000.

Shrewsbury Town have drawn Wolverhampton Wanderers away in the third round of the FA Cup

It comes six years after the Shrews held Liverpool to a draw at home in the FA Cup

However in the return leg at Anfield, the Reds fielded a youngest-ever starting lineup

The Shrews, currently up for sale, may well have been expecting a windfall after the draw for the Third Round pitted them against local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. However, the Premier League side have set prices at £10 for adults and £5 for concessions.

‘The FA take 10 per cent, then the stewarding and policing costs come out, the VAT gets paid and the two clubs split what’s left between them,’ said a disgruntled Wycherley.

‘The pricing belittles the competition and is disrespectful to the visiting club. They’ve already stropped replays and when the FA introduced the £10 10 years ago, it was as a minimum and not a maximum.

‘We’ll end up making more from our match at South Shields in the first round. We’ve written to Wolves to say we strongly disagree but what can we do? Yet again, the lower league club gets shafted. It’s not our fault Wolves are reducing prices because the fans are up in arms about their owners.’

For their part, Wolves deny the reduced entry is anything to do with the current environment at Molineux, instead stating that while they accept Shrewsbury’s view ‘as the home club we have to act in the best interests of our supporters and that has guided the pricing for this game’.

Tickets for Premier League matches at Wolves for adults range from £32 to £71.

Some interesting comments from Rick Parry, at a recent football analytics conference held at Oldham Athletic’s Boundary Park.

EFL Chairman Rick Parry made some interesting comments this week at a football analytics conference

The EFL chair, on forthright form, told the audience that had the Premier League made a suitable offer to end the long-running redistribution stand-off, then Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister at the time, ‘would have binned the regulator, even at the 11th hour’. Parry also described the lack of three promotion slots for the National League as ‘indefensible’.

‘We need to embrace change and I think clubs would vote for it,’ he added, pointing out that such a move would need to be allied with greater financial controls. ‘There comes a point where you’ve got to do what is right for the greater good.’

The Lionel Messi appearance at the Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta, which resulted in chaotic and often violent scenes with rioting fans, will not have helped India’s ambition to host the 2036 Olympics.

Grandees at the IOC will be concerned that the serious lapse in security for one iconic athlete does not bode well for the safety of the thousands of Olympians that would be in India for the Games.

Scores of angry punters ripped up seats, while the pitch was invaded as a 45-minute appearance by the Argentina super star was abandoned after just 20. The event’s chief organiser has been detained by police.

Fans paid as much as £100 but were left frustrated thanks to a large crowd of VIPs who surrounded Messi, with a lap of honour scrapped amid the bedlam.

The Lionel Messi fiasco this week in Indian will not have boosted their chances of hosting the 2036 Olympics

Plenty has been said on FIFA’s outrageous ticket prices for the World Cup with the old adage: ‘A fee for one thing and a fee for another,’ ringing true.

Garford Beck, who has followed the Three Lions all over the world and who manages EnglandFans FC, summed it up well. ‘These people are actually robbing us of our game, snatching away the dreams of thousands who were hoping to attend next year’s World Cup,’ he said.

‘To say I’m outraged would be an understatement, I’m feeling very emotional and it’s as if we’re coming to the end of an era. It feels as if a chapter is closing in my life.’